Sleeping
by Fafsernir
Summary: (post-series, just fluff) Monica and Chandler still haven't connected with their neighbors because they don't have time for anything with their jobs and the twins. They don't really have time to even sleep, actually. [Day 2 of "7 days/7 fics"]


_A quick explanation of this:_ 8 days - 8 fics _is a challenge we're doing with a friend. Basically, for 8 days, we'll be writing a fic a day (based on 10 days / 10 songs by PV Nova, a french youtuber/musician) with conditions we came up with and that we pick randomly each day. Even if the fics are part of the same challenge, they can all be read apart, nothing connect them._

 _Today's conditions were:_ Prompt " _I_ _know it's 3 in the morning, but I can't find my cat._ _"_ \- Fandom _Friends_ \- Category _Fluff_ _-_ Imposed word _shovel (_ suggested by a friend)

 _This is set after the finale, probably a few months? No idea, but it's fluff with the Bings! ;)_

* * *

As Jack started to cry, _again_ , Chandler pretended to sleep. He sensed Monica moving behind him, and smiled triumphantly, only to wince when she hit him in the leg.

"Your turn," she mumbled, turning her back on him to go back to sleep.

He groaned and stopped pretending, moving the sheet away to put on a warm sweater, walking slowly out of the comfortable bedroom.

"Chandler!" Monica said from the bed, ordering him to go quicker.

He mumbled under his breath but fastened his steps, opening the nursery room. As predicted, Jack was crying in his cradle while his sister slept peacefully in hers. He picked him up, trying to hum something to the child, but he was too tired for it to be a song, or anything else than weird noises.

Chandler loved his children, he was glad to finally have two wonderful twins but... he just wanted to sleep, sometimes. Jack had other plans for them, apparently, which included a lot of crying at night. And of course he slept like a log in day time, according to their nanny.

He rocked Jack in his arms, his cries calming, and almost fell asleep right on his feet, but the door bell woke him up.

Door bell? Who the heck would be ringing at their door at who-knew-which hour of the night? Was it one of their friends? Oh, Chandler was ready to kill any of his friends who dared come all the way here at this hour, especially if it was Joey to raid his fridge – oddly enough, he still managed to do that a lot.

Realizing that he hadn't moved, and that whoever was at the door might actually be in an urgent need of something, he almost ran downstairs, Jack laughing in his arms as he bounced. Aw, his son was laughing, he loved that sound... He didn't have time for this.

When he opened the door on his neighbor – was it Cheryl? Karen? Maybe Elizabeth? – he didn't really react. It wasn't one of his friends. But now he felt stupid in his boxers, sweaters, and with Jack in his arms and – he was ready to bet on it – his hair all disheveled. He probably had bags under his eyes, too. Had he finally become a zombie?

"Hi," his neighbor's voice brought him back to the present time. "I'm Deborah, your neighbor?" _Deborah_! "We met a few times already?"

"Yeah, I remember. Hey. Are the twins bothering you? Is there a problem?" he asked, sure that if someone knocked on their door at this hour, it meant a huge problem. Maybe all the neighborhood hated them. What if they wanted them to leave?

"Oh no, don't worry! And we've had babies too, we know what a nightmare they can be. We never heard a thing from the neighbors when someone had a kid." Chandler nodded, and changed his arms holding Jack, still curious of what Deborah was doing here. "Anyway, I'm sorry to bother you, and I know it's..." she checked her watch, "three in the morning, but I can't find my cat, and I saw the light in your house..."

The information took its time to make it to Chandler's brain. He really needed sleep. "Mmh? Oh, right. No, sorry, I was just sleeping until this big guy decided I'd slept enough," he answered, nodding to Jack who seemed to find his shoulder comfortable enough to sleep on it. Was he drooling on him?

"If you-" Whatever Deborah wanted to say was covered by the other twin, missing her brother. Chandler hated when Erica did that. Every time they tried to comfort Jack but left the room, Erica started crying.

"I'll be right back," Chandler said without thinking, almost running upstairs – with Jack, who had woken up because of his sister, laughing again because of all the bouncing – to take Erica in his free arm. She calmed right away, sleeping against his shoulder while Jack stared at him with his big, innocent – beautiful – eyes. Oh God, he loved them so much when they looked at him with those eyes.

He remembered Deborah downstairs and got back to her, sighing.

"Sorry about that... Have you tried looking in our garden?"

"Where?"

"Behind those... things," he said vaguely, trying to remember where he had seen her cat sometimes. "You know, all these tools. Shovel, rake... other things useful for a garden?"

"Right, I see what you mean," Deborah chuckled. "You know what? I will find him. You should put the twins to sleep, and go get some yourself, I think you need it."

"Nah I'm fine," he smiled.

"Don't drop any."

"Yeah, why don't I just put them to bed?" he quickly said, not wanting to drop his children. "Sorry I wasn't really helpful."

"I'll look behind those shovels, rakes, and other things," she smiled at him, and he remembered why he liked her. She was funny, too. They should talk a bit more with their neighbors, but with both their jobs and the children, they barely had time to... well, sleep.

"Hey Deborah," he still called back. "We're having our friends over this weekend, you can come for a drink, if you want."

"That's nice, I'll try to see if we can come for a minute."

"Sure," he smiled. "Good luck finding your cat."

"Good night," she chuckled again as he was leaning against the door frame, clearly daydreaming about sleeping.

He nodded, smiling, and pushed the door closed with his foot. He fumbled with the lock with his elbow until it worked, Jack still not sleeping in his arms, but smiling and hiding his head in his neck for some reason. He grinned, kissing his forehead, and walked up the stairs, putting first Erica down, then kissing Jack again and putting him back in his cradle. He realized he had inverted the cradles, but didn't try to move them. They'd sleep as well in the other's – they were the same, after all. He liked how easy it was for him now, to move around with them. It had been awkward at first, and he had always feared that one will fall if he had the two in his arms. Now he could hold them both. And each time he could keep them a bit longer before his arms started to hurt.

He leaned against the rail, watching Jack moving a bit, looking up at him. He gave him his fingers, playing with him, and touching that so incredibly soft skin, still amazed that this was his child. They had made it, they had two adorable children and he really couldn't get over it. Especially now that they had stopped crying.

* * *

Monica moved in her bed, uncomfortable in it. Something was missing. She opened an eye, then closed it and moved her arm on the other side of the bed, where Chandler was supposed to be. She froze when she couldn't feel him, and listened to the house, but the kids weren't crying anymore.

She put on her robe and walked to the nursery room, smiling when she saw Chandler over Jack's bed. He was sleeping, with one of Jack's toys in his hand. She smiled at the perfect frame the boys offered, then walked to her husband, running a hand on his back.

He straightened suddenly with a deep breath, looking around in confusion.

"Sorry to wake you up," she whispered, playing with his hair. "But you'll feel better in a bed."

"Right," he whispered back, rubbing his eyes. He stopped when he noticed he had a toy in his hands, and put it down next to Jack, who was now sleeping.

He put his arm around Monica, turning slightly to check that Erica was still sleeping, still there, and still looking cute. She was.

Chandler kissed his wife's nose – he had aimed for her cheek, but that worked too – and walked back to their bedroom with her. Now used to it, she lay back on the bed first, on her side, and he climbed after her, spooning her back.

"Love you," he mumbled in her hair, kissing her shoulder.

She didn't respond but squeezed his hand and smiled. This was happiness in its purest form, and she was so glad to have found Chandler, to have married him and started a family with him. She loved her life, and she loved more than anything the three most important people in it.


End file.
